


Inflorescence

by staysharp



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, F/M, Florist Allura, Florist Lance, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron), especially you felix, i love them, i sincerely hope you enjoy this, love ya, pining Allura, tattoo artist keith, tattoo artist shiro, they act cool but only in their own turf, though they don't show it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 10:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9230282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/staysharp/pseuds/staysharp
Summary: Shiro approached him after a customer had left. “Keith.”“Yes?” He pushed his sketchbook away from him, eyes shot from staring at the paper for too long.“I’m going to try to talk to the florist across the street.”(the florist/tattoo artist AU where Keith gets roped into his brother's love life one day and it ends up affecting four individuals as they learn to ultimately grow together.)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [momochakos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/momochakos/gifts).



> in·flo·res·cence  
> [ˌinflōˈresns, ˌinfləˈresns]
> 
> NOUN  
> 1\. botany  
> \- the complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks, bracts, and flowers.  
> \- the arrangement of the flowers on a plant.  
> \- the process of flowering.

It was another regular day.

Shiro was focused, warm brown eyes watching as he inked in the floral design a customer had requested, three coral pink flowers and curling tendrils that resembled ferns on the back of her shoulder. He found himself blowing his bangs out of his eyes, but only as reflex, ever since Keith had suggested he wear a headband to fix the problem.

Keith was busy sitting up front, looking through designs and sketching in his notebook. A pencil sat behind his ear, a pen decisively marking the sheet of paper in front of him. He paused every so often, twirling the pen in his fingertips, smudges of ink on his fingers he knew that he couldn’t forget about.

He had his earbuds in, getting lost in the easy flow of things, and the next thing he knew, the customer was being sent off by his brother. “Thank you so much.” The woman smiled, waving goodbye.

“Of course. Make sure you take care of it.” Shiro smiled and she left, the bell hanging on the door handle ringing briefly, only to be silenced seconds later. “I believe,” he placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “we can close up for the day.” Keith looked at his older brother and then back out the windows, realizing that the sky had darkened.

Keith smiled, beginning to pack up his things. “Let’s go then.”

It was another regular night, too. Spring was like that, especially in the beginning.

The following day, they woke up early, arriving to the front of their parlor at seven in the morning.

“Shiro, I’m pretty sure we don’t need to be here this early.” Keith shivered a little bit, rubbing his hands on his thin long sleeved shirt.

“Keith, I’m pretty sure you should bring a jacket.” Shiro smiled as he looked back at his little brother, keys in hand. As he breathed out a puff of morning air, he looked past Keith and consequently dropped the keys on the pavement. 

“Shiro, what-” Keith followed his brother’s line of sight and he turned his head, catching sight of the store across the street. “Hey, has that flower shop always been there?” He watched as the door started to open and out came a woman with an unmistakable head of long white hair. “Shiro, she-”

Next thing Keith knew, he’d been whisked inside the tattoo parlor. Shiro walked straight to the back like nothing had happened while Keith remained frozen by the front door. . “We have several appointments today, Keith. Be ready,” Shiro called out. He turned around to find Keith right in front of him.

“What just happened?” Keith asked.

“I-I don’t know what-”

Keith cocked his head, smiling. “Who was she?”

Shiro averted his eyes for a second, then, realizing his mistake, held his younger brother’s gaze levelly. “I don’t know her name... But, she opened up shop about a week or so ago and... she’s really-” Shiro flushed and Keith felt a grin creep onto his face.

“So, you have a crush on her.”

“Keith, don’t be immature.”

“Oh my god, you’re into her.” Keith pointed at his brother. “Well, we have a while before the first customer comes, so…” Keith drew out, hoping Shiro would catch the drift.

“So what?”

“Go talk to her.” Shiro’s eyes widened slightly at the mention and he considered it for a measly three seconds before he shook himself out it.

“No, just no.”

“Are you serious-”

“Yes.” 

Keith gave his brother a look before departing upfront. He sighed as he dumped his stuff onto the desk, wondering what the big deal was. After all, it wasn’t like anything was going to happen if his brother did nothing. His mind wandered as he took out his pencils, taking one and opening his sketchbook once more. He tried to focus on the lines for the commissioned design someone had requested. He wanted to give it the full attention it deserved, but his focus kept breaking . He found himself tying his hair up twice, in order to make sure it was an even ponytail, and his eyes wandered.

The glass windows in the front were spacious and cleanly; the inside of the parlor was nice, kept and orderly. Pale wooden floors were the result of the hair salon that had been in place before their tattoo parlor had been established. The walls were a pale green, easy and calming, and it honestly was a small place because of the tattoos they’d designed.

They were young, especially in the business, to have perfected their work and so they had the freedom to accept a limited number of customers per day, usually less than five, and five was if customers got lucky.

Keith watched as the owner of the flower shop came out of her shop, carrying plants with her, and he couldn’t  help but notice how tall she was. It was strange, especially, that she sported white hair. After a minute or two, he went back to his drawing, forgetting about her until only a few days later.

Shiro approached him after a customer had left. “Keith.”

“Yes?” He pushed his sketchbook away from him, eyes shot from staring at the paper for too long. 

“I’m going to try to talk to  the florist across the street.”

“As you should, considering you’re crushing hard.”

“Keith, that’s-”

“Don’t you dare deny it.”

“Anyways, I’ve found the perfect way to do so.” Shiro smiled and kept looking at Keith. This went on for seconds too long and Keith averted his eyes and then looked back at his brother.

“Are you looking at something behind me, or…?”

“No, I’m looking at you.”

“...You do realize I am not a part of this, right?” 

“So, the plan is-”

“Keep me out of this.”

“-I already placed an order for a bouquet and she said it will be ready tomorrow at 10ish in the morning.” 

“This doesn’t concern me.” Keith gave Shiro a hard look but he kept going.

“I’m going to need you to pick it up for me.”

“Shiro, and exactly how is her seeing me getting to know you?” He pointed firstly at himself, then his older brother.

“You can put in a good word for me.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Keith, it’s a good plan,” Shiro said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“And you call _me_ immature.”

“Enough. You’re going.” 

Before Keith could retort, the next customer walked through the door. “Hi, I’m here for my appointment with Keith.”

“Alright, let’s go do this.”

Once the evening hit, Keith was glad to be able to leave earlier and join Pidge for a drink.

“He’s using me, Pidge.”

“It’s so funny,” they wiped their tears from their eyes, “it’s like a middle school crush-” and they went right back to laughing uncontrollably, their tiny body shaking. “Jesus-” they wheezed, making many efforts to take a drink but stopping themself every time. 

“That’s exactly it, you know?” Keith looked down into his drink. “I don’t need to be in the middle of it.”

“I think it’s also-also funny how he got you, of all people, to go for him.”

“Honestly, he really shot himself in the foot with that one.” Keith took a sip. “I don’t communicate effectively.”

“I’ll say. Remember when we met-”

“Anyways, I should get going. See you whenever.”

“Figures you have to go right before I embarrass you. Alright, bye. Don’t screw up your brother’s love life too much.” Pidge waved noncommittally.

“Hey, if I do,” Keith paused to smile, “at least it’s not mine.”

The next morning, Keith sat on his stool at the parlor, earbuds in his ears, having forgotten what he was supposed to do. The clock turned ten and he felt a hand on his shoulder, which caused him to almost fall off his stool. “Don’t scare me like-”

“Don’t you think you should go over?” Shiro looked at him, brown eyes expectant. 

“It’s ten.”

“Go now.”

“You really should do it yourself, you know.” Keith crossed his arms in front of his chest, still sitting. “It’s not gonna help that she meets me, the brother of the guy who has a crush on her. Seriously, Shiro-”

“I’m sure the flowers are ready by now. Now, up.” Shiro made a motion with his hand that resulted in him pointing at the front door. Keith’s eyes only followed because of the branches with leaves tattooed on Shiro’s lower right arm. “Go.”

“Pidge agreed with me, you know. My social skills aren’t the best-”

“It’s 10:05. I think it’s time.” Shiro gave a brief smile as Keith realized he wasn’t going to be able to get out of this.

“Alright,” he stood up, walking slowly to the front door, placing a hand on the handle. “It’s your love life’s funeral.”

There was an undeniable warmth that took hold of that morning. An easy amount of sunlight poured in between cracks and spaces created by buildings and the leaves in the trees. He watched as a couple cars drove through, the bell of the door a distant echo in his mind and it was left in his presence on the sidewalk in front of the parlor.

He looked both ways a few times and then walked across the road, sticking his hands into his overall pockets halfway across the street. Once he got onto the sidewalk in front of the flower shop, he stood there for several seconds, taking it all in.

The front was made of glass set in white paneling, cursive sitting on the left pane.

It read Altea. 

Strange, Keith thought, as he looked down at the plants sitting near his feet for sale. They were varying shades of green, from small to medium, leaves shifting in the gentle morning breeze. He extracted one hand from his pocket and reached forward, placing his palm on the door.

He pushed and it opened.

A very floral essence flooded his system but it wasn’t strong. It was soft, incredibly so, and the door closed behind him, a wind chime tinkling before leaving him in silence in the greenery that surrounded him. Walls a light blue, there sat buckets of flowers, colorful bursts of arrangements and potted plants sat on shelves, everything from cacti to other plants that were pretty but nameless to him.

He let his eyes wander, wondering if this would be a good place to sit in and sketch.

Then a voice brought him back to the reality of where he was.

“I thought I heard someone come in.”

“Ah, yeah, I’m here to-” Keith turned his body and saw a man standing next to the side of counter that held the cash register and smaller items for purchase. The man was leaning on his elbow, one leg straight and the other bent slightly so that his ankles were crossed, plain white converse laced neatly. Keith looked at his legs, realizing that they were adorned in black leggings and went on for, well, miles.

He moved his eyes up, noticing that the leggings stopped and an expanse of firm stomach was showing, only to be cut off as a white shirt fit the rest of this man, a pretty blue coloring in the sleeves and the v of the crop top. And then, then-

“You’re here to what?” The man prompted and Keith wondered how much time had elapsed while he’d been staring. “Not talk?”

“I’m here for a bogay-bouquet! Bouquet.” He prayed with all his heart the man hadn’t heard him. He only watched as the man fix his posture so that he stood straighter, coming closer.

“What’s the name?” He was close but also not close enough.

“Shiro.” Keith managed and the guy nodded before turning around. What caught his eyes was that the back of the man’s neck had a tattoo. It consisted of three black stems that bent this way and that, along with simple outlines of little flowers. 

Keith couldn’t count how many because the guy disappeared.

It was only a minute before the guy came back out, a beautiful bouquet sitting prettily in his lean arms. “This is it.” Keith could only look at the guy. “I kind of need you over here, you know.” He smiled at Keith. “Can’t pay from over there, can you?”

Keith honestly felt like walking out and never facing this man ever again.

But he didn’t.

“Ah, right.” He made his way up to the booth, watching as the man cradled the bouquet in one arm, eyes going from the flowers to the cash register as he punched in the numbers. Upon further observation, Keith realized that this man’s eyes were blue.

“So, that’ll be 22.75.” Keith shook himself out of it and handed over his credit card. “Thank you.” The man took it and slid the plastic and that’s when Keith noticed the plain black flower tattoo on the man’s inner left wrist, partially hidden by the crinkly plastic surrounding the pinks and reds of the flowers. “Here’s your card.” He handed it back between two of his fingertips and for some reason, that’s when Keith stupidly decided to make eye contact.

He took it from the man slowly, noticing the way his short, dark brown hair framed his face in an endearing way, especially highlighting the way the freckles lay across his cheeks and tan skin. The man cocked his head and gave a small smile.

“Listen, you can stare at my beauty all you want, but you should really get your flowers to your place.”

He handed over the bouquet and Keith made sure that their hands didn’t touch.

“Have a nice day, Shiro.” The man called as Keith headed for the door, unable to make himself turn around and correct the florist. He didn’t look back as he clutched onto the bouquet, dashing across the street, and practically slamming the parlor door behind him.

Shit.

“So, what happened?” Shiro appeared, eyes hopeful. Keith thrusted the bouquet into his brother’s hands.

“She wasn’t there.”

“Well, then, who was?” Shiro set the bouquet down. “You look pretty frazzled-”

“It was nobody, Shiro.”

“Keith, nobody couldn’t sell you flowers-”

“It was a ghost, okay. He was very-”

“Wait a second.” Shiro smiled as he held out his palm in front of him. “Are you telling me that you, my little brother, has a thing for someone else who also works at the flower shop?”

“Shiro, I didn’t say that-”

“He’s probably really pretty, huh?” Keith gave his brother a look, finally taking a seat on his stool. “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you came in here at the speed of light.”

“You’re exaggerating, is all.” Keith shifted his focus on his pencil pouch he had taken into his hands. “That’s just like you, blowing everything out of-”

“Ah, so you’re in the same boat as me. You like someone over there, too.”

“Listen, it’s a little early for liking-” That was a lie. Keith still had that man’s image burned into his head, the way he had spoken with light smiles and how he had carried himself. 

“So, did you introduce yourself?”

Keith froze, dropping a pencil back into the pouch.

He relived his exit from the shop across the street.

“Keith, you look like you just died a little inside.”

“Let’s go with I just died a whole lot inside.” Keith buried his face in his hands. “He thinks my name is Shiro.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not exactly in the mood to be making jokes, here.”

“Well, just clear it up.” Shiro spoke, trying his best not to laugh. “That...that will be easy. You, know, that is if you can actually talk to this guy-”

“Shiro, I don’t want hear this from you, especially you, of all people.”

As they bickered, Allura returned to her shop across the street.

“Hi, Lance, did anything happen? Also, did those people come pick up their orders?” She set her purse down on the checkout counter, her ice blue shirt and its sleeves moving fluidly. 

“Well,” Lance slipped into a slight smile, “there was this one guy named Shiro.”

“It’s a little early to be hitting on customers, don’t you think?”

“I didn’t hit on him, you know me. Anyways, he was hitting on me, in a...non-verbal way.”

“That sounds strange.” Allura listened as she parted her hair in the back so that half of it lay over one shoulder and the other half over the other. 

“Well, he didn’t hit on me but he was definitely at a loss for words.” Lance laughed lightly. “He was just stunned by my good looks. Happens often.” Allura gave him a slight look as she started braiding her hair over one of her shoulders.

“Uh huh.”

“Anyways, boss, how’d the delivery go?”

“Wonderful, as usual.” Allura smiled as her fingers deftly finished braiding one side of hair, tying it off. She moved her hands to the unbraided portion of her that fell over her other shoulder. “She had the cutest little boy-”

Lance smiled as he leaned forward to listen, resting his head on his hands.

But in a way, he still was thinking about Shiro.

It just was so...easy.

“Are you- oh my god!” Pidge was howling, rolling over on the floor. “You fucked up!”

“Language,” Shiro warned from the kitchen. Keith buried his face into the pillow he had cradled into his chest. “But yes, he did mess up.” He gritted his teeth as his brother added on. “Big time.”

“A phenomenal fuck up.”

“Language.”

“It’s not like he’s gonna think my name’s Shiro for forever!” Keith lifted his face from the pillow to get a word in. 

“Yeah, but, you do realize you’re going to have to talk to him and tell him that, right?” Pidge lay sprawled out on the wooden floor, looking over at Keith. “You sure you can do that?”

“Pidge, I’m gonna-”

“Food’s done.” Shiro called and Pidge moved faster than Keith had ever seen them. Pidge took a seat at the table and Keith got up, grudgingly, taking the pillow with him. “Keith, why did you bring the pillow?” 

“Wait, I thought his name was Shiro?” Pidge asked, with a smile of overtly fake innocence .

“I need it so I can do this.” Keith placed his face into the pillow and the next thing that could be heard in their apartment was a muffled scream. He removed his face to find that Pidge had fallen out of their chair and Shiro was doing his best to help Pidge back up. “Hey, leave that little gremlin down there.”

“Shiro-” Shiro stopped himself but it was too late. Pidge, who he had successfully gathered from his arms, slid back down onto the floor into a burst of laughter. They rolled over onto their side and Keith could only stare in wide-eyed horror at his older brother.

“How could you do this to me-”

“Looks like he’s Keith now!” Pidge pointed at Shiro and Keith chucked the pillow at Pidge, barely missing them. “Wow, you’re a bad shot! I’m literally right here.”

“Stay there,” Keith muttered, placing his face in his hands. “Jesus, what a nightmare.”

“Guys, c’mon, let’s eat dinner before it gets cold.” And once again, Pidge was up off the floor like nothing Keith had ever seen. They took their original seat and Shiro sat down. “Now, let’s enjoy dinner, shall we?”

“Sure thing, Keith.” Pidge dug in.

“I don’t care what you say Shiro, Pidge is dead.”

“Keith.” Shiro warned.

Laughter was occasional that night at the dinner table. It was a given thing, since Pidge often took joy in learning about either brother’s misfortunes. But from that day forward, nothing seemed to be a given; regular went out the window.

Keith and Shiro were on their own now.

Or as Pidge had eloquently put it that night, they were kind of fucked.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!
> 
> also, today i watched la la land and it's absolutely gorgeous and i think it's gonna be a huge inspo for this piece
> 
> if you liked what you read, feel free to check out my other fics, especially And, action! (it's a complete fake dating au at 100k+ words)
> 
> but anyways, this is my second long(ish) klance fic
> 
> we'll see where it takes us
> 
> my tumblr is @bluethisisforyou


End file.
